(WKBW release) During a second public comment period on the NFL blackout policy, New York Congressman Brian Higgins once again wrote to Federal Communication Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski urging the elimination of this rule.
“Western New Yorkers will soon be expected to provide public funds to update Ralph Wilson Stadium,” Higgins said in a news release. “It is unfair and nonsensical that fans are then denied the right to see their hometown team play.”
In his letter, Higgins refutes the National Football League’s claims that the blackout rule is necessary for financial reasons. Higgins cites leading economist Roger Noll of Stanford University, whose research has found that local blackouts harm consumers, while offering little to no benefit to sports teams.
Higgins has been a vocal opponent of the sports blackout rule, having written earlier to the FCC and also joining with a bipartisan coalition of his House of Representatives colleagues in writing to the NFL urging a repeal of their television blackout policy.
